Beautiful Weather

We had such great weather while Grandma Sharon was here. So on her last day here we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and have a nice lunch outside.

Grandma and her girls

Tatum is big enough for a high chair now!

Layla and Daddy being silly with the pizza dough



Tatum is quite the Daddy’s girl and constantly wants him to hold her. She says “Da Da” all the time!! I think she is going to be quite sad when he goes back to work next week.


Side note: Juan and I had major plans to take full advantage of Grandma being here and sneak away for a couple of much needed dates. Unfortunately we didn’t even go on one!! We ended up with 2 sick girls over Christmas instead. Oh well….next time for sure!!

Christmas Day

Layla was so excited when she woke up Christmas morning. Tatum, on the other hand, was still asleep at 7:30 (which never happens) so we had to wake her up. Layla was so excited to see that Santa had eaten the cake she left for him and even left her a sweet letter.

Tatum enjoyed the wrapping paper best, of course


Layla really was excited about her new toothbrush


All Layla asked for on her Christmas list was new pajamas, lip chap (ie chapstick) and Olivia’s friends (?). She was so happy she got all 3!


Tatum’s new puppy

A super cool horse from Grandma Sharon. Layla named it “Teacup”






Then Juan got busy in the kitchen making delicious Christmas omelets and bacon.

Tatum and Grandma enjoying some beautiful weather!

We had such a nice Christmas together. Layla was so grateful for all of her presents (even though there wasn’t much) and kept saying thank you and hugging us. I hope that we can continue to teach both girls about gratitude and what Christmas is really about.

Christmas Eve

We were so excited that Juan’s mom flew out to spend Christmas with us. The girls had so much fun spending the week with her and of course Juan was super happy that she made him his special caramel cake for Christmas Eve. We celebrated the evening with a nice dinner together than played games before getting ready for Santa to come.

Layla left out a nice big slice of caramel cake (I can’t believe Daddy shared!) and a delicious glass of almond milk Of course a few carrots for the reindeer too. Santa left a letter telling us how much he enjoyed the cake.

The Girls and their Christmas Trees

I love having little Christmas trees in the girls rooms. And they make for a great night light!


Layla decorated her tree all by herself


and in front of the big tree in jammies

Tatum is 6 months

So hard to believe that this cute little one is already 6 months old. She is weighing in at just a tad under 20 pounds and 27 inches tall. No wonder my arm and back hurt all the time! I think that this is such a fun age. Tatum loves to sit and play with toys. Pretty much everything goes right into her mouth. She adores Layla and pretty much thinks everything she does is hilarious (Layla adores her as well). She has recently discovered our dogs and will not take her eyes off of them if she sees them. Tatum is quite the Daddy’s girl lately. If he walks out of the room she cries. Of course Daddy just eats that right up and comes running right back in for her. She says “mama” but it is just when she is crying and it’s like “mama ma ma ma.” I say it counts! She also babbles “dada” and Juan says it counts for him too. Now Layla will say “Tatum, say Laaayla.”  She still is not a very good sleeper and wakes up lots of times at night for a snack and a snuggle. Happily she usually takes a really long afternoon nap. We have started to give her a little bit of food but taking it really slowly due to her allergies. I gave her a little rice cereal and then noticed she had a bunch of blood in her diaper. I looked at the ingredients on the rice cereal and it had both soybean oil and soy lecithin in it! Bad mommy! I am usually sooooo so good about reading ingredients too. So no rice cereal here at our house!

Tatum at her 6 month checkup. 4 shots and one oral vaccine weren't as terrible as the first two times. She only cried for a bit and then was over it. Yay for a happier baby!

We sure love this cute baby girl!

Snow and Sledding!

We woke up the next morning to snow!! So beautiful! We were excited because we brought sleds that we had borrowed from the Henry’s in case is snowed. And yes it is still dark outside when my girls wake up, lucky me!

Morning sister snuggles.


Layla wanted to make a snowman but there wasn’t quite enough snow for that.

Ralphie!! Poor baby girl did not like getting bundled up. And boy am I glad we don’t live somewhere cold and have to do this often. It was difficult to shove her in this snuggly warm thing.

So fun that the Smith family had tickets for the train the same day as we did. Unfortunately we were at opposite ends of the train for the Polar Express so we were excited to sled and play in the snow together. It was so so cold so really the daddy’s just pushed Trey and Layla around on the sleds a few times and we were all freezing and done in no time.




How cute is Trey’s scarf?!

I think Ralphie…..I mean Tatum was the warmest. She was in lots of layers!

Trey and Layla are such cute friends.


Group  shot. It was so windy and cold that I am quite surprised that any of us were able to keep our eyes open for the photo. I was wishing I had ski goggles.

Layla watching the Polar Express movie on the drive home.

Such a fun trip and we can’t wait to go again next year.